Nick, how many man-hours do you think has been spent on your HT to date? I have been looking at some of the rooms over at AVS... And, well.... Some of those builds are quite intimidating on a DIY scale for a homeowner+buddies....or homeowner+ LOTS of buddies

I couldn't even begin to fathom how many hours were just for the theater... Since I was finishing a whole 1600 sqft in my basement, it would be hard to recall everything.

There are some factors though for sure.

1) Getting permits definitely slows down the process. Not because of the permit itself, but knowing that you want to pass each inspection point can turn some simple elements into complex, over-engineered components. While I think that you can certainly finish a space without a permit, and I have done so in the past, things should still be done to code.

2) If you need to rework any existing areas that can really slow progress as well. Existing electrical runs might need to be sorted out (as in a "what were they trying to do here?") so that you can either tie into existing work safely, or adjust things to prep an area. This is also true for physical structures like support beams (I moved one of mine) and plumbing (remember that I had to bust up, by hand, just over 1 ton of concrete and then after the new plumbing was in, pour just over 1 ton of concrete back in).

I spent probably the equivalent to a month if not more just doing all of that stuff. That did include an almost 100% rewire of absolutely everything in the basement too.

3) Sometimes you can plan things to death. Just go buy what you think you need plus a few extra of whatever. You can always return it, and you never know when a plan will change "on the fly". I wasted about 2 hours one time trying to get an exact count of the number of 2x4's I was going to need for my theater walls. I went and got them, and then when I started construction, I found a couple of shortcuts that saved a few studs, and some limitations that cost me a couple more. If I would have just bought the rough estimate I would have been within I think it was 1 stud (1 leftover). Instead, I was 5 short, and I wasted about 1.75 hours trying to get it "exact".

4) Helpers are great, *IF* they know what they are doing already, have great direction, or are used for basic manual labor. There were times that I got huge help out of people for some hauling of lumber and such, or giving a boost in confidence (plus a few extra hands with the support beam move for example). That was great. I've also been bogged down by "helpers" who want to really help out, but are slower, or need a lot of instruction and training. That old adage of you can do it better/faster yourself... There also may be a different level of "quality" in the end product as well. I experienced that with someone who helped me a lot. He knew what he was doing, but tried to do it so fast that there are a lot of errors/touch-ups. He really slams a lot of stuff in when he is working, but if I wanted things done with any level or precision, I either REALLY needed to make that known, or again, just do it myself. The problem here is that he is a "close relative of my wife". I will leave it at that since his help in the end was worth more than the re-dos or touch-ups his speed caused.

I am sure that there are lots of other things too, but these all factored in to my project.

As for AVS, I LOVE following some of those builds. There are some definite "master craftsmen" over there. The end products are so amazing, but the ones that are doing most of the work themselves are taking 1-2 YEARS to do their theaters, and a lot of them are still hiring out things like drywall or maybe some framing/electrical/HVAC. They have theaters that are worthy of the most prestigious magazine write-ups, or some sort of "Oh My Gosh, This Is Utterly Awesome" award. While mine pales in comparison aesthetically, I am not done yet and have some other elements to add to it to make it have a little more "pop".

Of course, now that I calibrated the audio, I have this itching... No BURNING feeling that I want to calibrate my projector. I've done some tweaking with the Disney WOW disc, but without a meter and some proper software, I can't fix the gamma/gray scale properly, and I keep hearing that those two will make a HUGE improvement in the viewing experience.

If course the meter is around $140 - $250 depending on model. The software I would be using a free. I've got a graduation party to fund, plus a big family vacation the end of June to Los Angeles that is starting to really add up now... Not sure that I SHOULD justify the expense (notice that I said should and not could... I am sure that I can convince myself, but I probably shouldn't.) Maybe this fall...

Tonight I was priming doors still for upstairs (long story), and then I did some errands in prep for the big grad party in a week and a half, but I still managed to get the two Lutron Maestro IR dinners in the theater. Wow, what a cool improvement. I can press one button on the remote and the can lights Nd wall sconces dim (independently too) to some preset level. Another button, and the either go off, or up to full on. Two other buttons do individual increments up or down. So nice. Now, back to another coat of primer, and then back to finding more pictures for a slide show. We are busy again the next two nights, but I hope to do something to dim down the step lights in the theater. I am hoping that the clear covers come off and then I will paint the inside edges solid black and then see what the options would be for the main part of it. I am sure it will be a work in progress for a couple if days.

On the surface, that seems really similar. The Insteon could be better/worse... I didn't dig into, I just know that this will be great once I get my Harmony One programmed for everything. I can see it now. For "Listen to Music/Radio" the lights will stay on. For something like "Watch TV" or "Watch Blu-Ray" it would dim. Of course, with the power on time of a projector factored in. Since projectors take a little bit of time before they are actually "on" with something visible, I would just program it as best as I can to delay the dimming until the projector is up and going. The only thing that I wish was different, but I knew about going in, is that I can't manually over-ride the two switches independently. They both receive the same IR signals/codes, so a "full on" command to one, it also received by the other. Lutron makes a separate command box that can set up scenes, but it seems like a lot of overkill for what I am doing, and for the price it wasn't worth it.